So, What Do You Do?, A look into the lives of other members..

I thought it might be nice to have a thread that gave everyone an insight into the lives of other forum members, so perhaps we can get a better picture of one another. It would be great if people were as honest as possible. And it's perfectly possible to do this while holding onto as much anonymity as you please. Now I realise doesn't really sit in this forum, but it wasn't clear to me where it should sit - so I'll leave it to the mods if they wish to move it. I'll start the ball rolling:

What I do:
I'm a mathematics PhD student in the UK, with interests in integrability, symplectic geometry, analysis of PDEs, Hamiltonian dynamics, spectral analysis and mathematical physics. My latest work is concerned with extending results from variational calculus for a certain class of Lagrangians.

A day in the life
Well I work from home most days, and pop into the dept if I need to speak to anyone or if I'm doing any supervising (which is basically teaching a small group of undergrads). I spend lots of time scribbling on paper, then try to formally write up the work towards the end of the week (assuming there's anything worth keeping!). This involves using a mathematical typesetting tool called LaTeX. Aside from the work - I live with my girlfriend who's a solicitor, and our dog, a 20 week old Weimaraner.

awwwwwwww!

Accounting...... (It pays the bills nicely). But I never quit dreaming about being a physicist. So I am here to learn (and dream).

And a Mom, which is an extremely underpaid job, but the benefits are awesome!

This should be a fun thread, thanks Euler! Everyone here loves physics, but not everyone is lucky enough to work in it, so it should be interesting to see the variety of answers.

Myself, I'm 23, working as a drafter for an aeronautical manufacturing firm. It's decent work, I suppose. Doesn't always keep me busy, hence why I'm here. Schooled as an electrical engineer and some computer sciences, but I always tried to take as many science classes as I could, undergrad though they were.

I love physics, chemistry, biology, etc., even though I don't have much of a head with numbers. Anything beyond calc 3 usually tends to leave me behind. I guess you would call me more of a philosopher than a physicist. Hey, it worked for Socrates, right?
My dad is a physician, and I grew up stealing his old medical journals for fresh reading material, which likely got me hooked on all things technical and scientific.

Oh, and about my handle. The LeTU part is for my alma mater, not some french thing.

hmm..lets see, I'm currently attending the University of Utah. I'm working on a BS in Mechanical Engineering. I work full time at a chemical plant so homework pretty much hogs all my free time. Hopefully I'll be done in two years

Let's see... 49 years old. Computer programmer by day. Musician by night. I suspect most people view me as slightly odd, but harmless.

I am not formally educated past what is mandatory attendance. I selectively educate myself, usually by reading books which are a mixture of accepted technical explanations and the personal philosophy of the author. I am not overly interested in a significant understanding of any current scientific fields, especially not at the expense of a broader albeit lesser understanding of a selection of the scientific fields.

Most of my true interests won't be realised for hundreds, perhaps thousands of years. I enjoy contemplating these interests and generally post with hidden agendas (with respect to increasing my understanding in foundation areas of these interests).

I have an inconsistent ability to see and relate things very clearly, and a consistent inability to articulate such things. I try not to be overwhelmed by the frustration. I think this is quite common amongst others, but they often refuse to realise their part in it, and assume a lack of understanding in the recipient.

I work as a technical analyst. I have a natural talent for it. It is very rare to find such a lack of formal education in my peers, yet I am frequently called upon for all sorts of technical assistance, often in favour of specialists.

I am a Kiwi, born and bred (not to be confused with born inbred).

I'm 40 years old and currently employed in technical support for a credit card processing company. I have been married for a little over 6 years and have two daughters. One is four and the other is one. My wife is pregnant and is due in about 6 weeks. She is a physician. My schooling is in electronics. Just a 2 year certificate. I am what some would call a "fundie". I enjoy reading and learning now more than earlier in my life, which include the Bible and technical websites. Interesting combination huh. I don't have as much time to read and learn as I would like due to the family responsibilities, but I make due.

My 200th post...perfect spot for it.

I went to a Christian high school and one year at a Christian college where I had been an English major. I changed my mind about that and went to an art school from where I graduated. I was a fine arts major, the old-fashioned pre-computer kind. I did mostly drawing and oil painting and was the typical bohemian starving artist. It wasn't until way later in life that I took a computer graphics course. I am 44.

Why physics...well, I always loved sci-fi since childhood, and no, I never outgrew it. Physics represents to me the real ideas that inspired the fiction. I never went into it as a profession, but I was always curious about that sort of thing. Now that the internet gives me access to more things, I gravitate to that which I naturally like. The internet has made it possible for people to meet people they never ever could have met otherwise.

I love Star Wars, cats, art, and philosophy also.

30.
Unemployed (resigned due to job related stress - last job was in mental health).
Currently possess a BSc.
Currently enroled in a PGDipSci.
Currently learning about the Globally Harmonized Systems (Living in a country that leads the way internationaly in adopting the GHS, but the chemistry department I'm enroled in was done over by the Hague for possession of chemical weapons).
In case you hadn't guessed, I'm a Chemist, specifically I'm a hippy chemist.
Physics, Chemistry, and Geology are all passions.
Married.
Have a child due in Mid Feburary.

Good idea, I have been curious about some of you. Maybe this will cut down on some of the spurious comments if we know each other better...maybe not

I'm 53 and work in the pest control industry as a consultant. I have a 4 year degree in zoology, so I can tell people how to kill things, go figure.

I must admit that a lot of these posts are over my head but I enjoy the conversations anyway. If anything interests me enough it gives me a reason to research further.

What I do:

23 year old 2nd year PhD student doing theoretical physics, namely supergravity descriptions of the Calabi Yau compact spaces in string theory and how to find stable vacuums for them. Currently doing a lot of algebraic geometry and reading about differential geometry, particularly orbifold and orientifold constructions.

A day in the life of :

Get up mid morning and lounge around for an hour or so. Head into the department late morning and then waste the remainder of the morning talking to people or on the internet. The afternoon I spend reading or computer coding and sometimes scratching out equations on paper. Generally see my supervisor once a week for half hour or so. Head home around the evening, sometimes doing a bit of work when I get home.

This post has been edited by AlphaNumeric on Sep 14 2007, 09:00 AM

I'm 24 years old and work for the MoD in Bristol, England as a Technical Project Manager. I came to Bristol 6 years ago to study Maths and Physics at Bristol Uni but got injured playing football, missed half my second year and dropped out. I'm currently finishing off my degree with Open University, polishing up on 2nd year maths (exam next month!) before I dive into the really interesting stuff

I work about 9-5 most days and sit at a computer for way too long (hence I regularly post here during work hours). I play loads of football in the evenings and weekends; sec for my Sat team and captaon for one of my evening 5-a-side teams. I live just outside central Bristol with my girlfriend and 2 little kittens - Pickle and Daisy!

I was born in England but I have lived in Canada since I was a teenager. Because of moving and such I left school when I was 14 or so. After working as a carpenter for a little while I went back to college, as a 'mature student', and as such I am supposed to be an electronic engineer.

After graduation I worked on micro-controller systems for a while. Always being a computer nerd, I thought it would be fun, but sitting in front of a computer 8 hours a day was absolute torture, perhaps because I was working on networked solenoid locking systems. Those that have read some of my posts may well be laughing at me

I decided my love for computers was best as a hobby and I took a job working in an apartment building of seniors, mostly old Jewish ladies. I loved that job, it gave me lots of spare time, at least at first. While I was there I spent many years developing a radical magnetic imaging technology. I didn't have any help, or money, but I managed to design and build a basic functional prototype.

After that I met the lady of my dark dreams, literally, and ended up being her little helper. For the last seven years I have slaved away building an online Femdom personals website. For some reason, I put the submissive men on the right and the dominant women on the left. About three years ago I started to understand what was going on and I quietly wrote a little online book about it all.

These days I am staying away from the city helping out some friends. Luckily, they have a computer up here so I still do a little work on the net now and then. I am hoping that some very clever and wise men will pick up my imaging work one of these days, and maybe they will see the light too. In fact, if someone in Ontario would like to get their hands on my prototype, I will give it to them, along with all the schematics, formulas, diagrams, code and everything. Come on guys, I have such faith in it, I will give it you so you can see for yourself.

The scanning ring, genlock, and amplifiers are still in good condition, I think, so you would just need 16 synchronized video waveforms to start driving the magnetic vector rod through space. Along with 7 Amiga1200 or Amiga4000 computers, you could genlock the video signals and generate some fairly good quality images with a little tweaking. Heck, if I had the money, I could do it in a few days. I also have a PC based version, which I could get together for you as well. Please, message me if you're interested.

Anyway, I enjoy coming here when I see an interesting post, or a good soul searching for the truth.